I'd like to take today to talk about one of my favorite movies. Hitch. You know, the wonderful one with Will Smith? No? You've seen it. Trust me. Check out this HILARIOUS scene:
I told you you've seen it. Now, Will Smith says a hell of a lot of funny/deep/possibly true things in this movie, but what always gets me is this: "60% of all human communication is nonverbal. Body language. 30% is your tone. So that means that 90% of what you're saying ain't coming out of your mouth."
Say what? Yes. Body Language is imperative for communicating with the opposite sex. Really, it's kind of imperative for communicating with... anyone. If body language is so important in real life, it obviously has a place in books. But where? That's the subject I'm trying to tackle today.
Body language can make or break an otherwise average story. It can be used to break up dialogue, give away emotion, or even further the plot.
I'm going to go ahead and bring in another pop culture reference (because I love 'em so much). It's one of my absolute favorite shows, on its third season, and it's all about lying. The lying in the show is all about body language. Here, watch this:
See? See what I'm talking about? If your characters are sharp enough, there's a whole lot of goodness in body language. So next time you start a scene, keep in mind that the protagonist might clench his fist when he gets angry. Or he might see someone leaning close to a supposedly "platonic" friend. Maybe the heroine will shrug instead of responding to her parents. Or the antagonist might smile at just the wrong time and wind up getting himself caught by the police.
Alright, so these are a lot of random possibilities, but just think about it. Body language can be a bit tedious when you're trying to worry about characters, plot, and keeping your writing crisp, but it can also be hella fun.
Yeah, it's June, two months away from M-Town's anniversary, and what have I got to show for it?
Editing scars. A better, cleaner manuscript. About 3 chapters of a sequel. A bunch of ideas I never follow through on.
I've heard the first book is the worst, that once you write one, it's easy to write a second. But in my crazy of omgihavetogetpublishednothingelsematters, I kind of lost sight of that, and now I feel like a one hit wonder, a one-time writer.
I know that's BS, but that's how I've been feeling lately.
SO. I decided to challenge myself. Writing goals. Said challenge name? 3k a day. Pretty self explanatory, right? The plan is to... well, um... write 3k.
Every day.
Starting now. Anyone care to join me? That means a book in a month, right? Gulp.
Whether for better or worse, summer has officially started, and if the past two days are any indication, this summer is going to be insane. Inundation of stuff to do with cool people.
I'm still pretty drained from school, and my internet access is sketchy, at best (thus the 3 days at once thing), but I feel like the weight of the world has been lifted from my shoulders. Summer so far has been completely surreal, and I've barely had time to sleep, let alone breathe. But it feels good, hanging out with so many different people, and fun times aside, I feel like I've been accumulating a lot of story fodder. So many ideas. So little time.
No, really.
I have no idea how these ideas work together, but they do.
How do I know?
I don't. It's a mystery.
Spilling Ink, Day 15, will be so much more interesting.
Though the date marked next to my last post says "Tuesday, June 8," I'm pretty sure I posted it today, Wednesday, June 10. It SHOULD have been posted yesterday, June 9th, but finals literally ate that day and now I'll never get it back.
I'm sitting in my barely lit dorm room, staring around at the mess that is my attempt to pack, and I'm typing these words like a madwoman. Not only do I have to write my final paper of my Junior year, I also have to pack up the past year of my life into neat boxes before I can go on with what will most likely be an amazing summer.
Metaphorical niceties aside, I have a lot to do.
So I'm going to shamelessly quote a great blog I read earlier this week by Sarah J Maas about 5 rules in the publishing world. They're really important rules, so pay attention:
5. Be patient. This is perhaps the hardest thing to do, but learning to Wait is an essential skill. The waiting never gets better, believe me. Whether you’re waiting for an agent to respond to your query, or for your editor to read your revised manuscript, it always sucks. But this isn’t a lightning-fast industry—things take time.
Your agent and editor are usually juggling multiple projects, all at different stages of publication. No news isn’t necessarily bad news—sometimes no news is just…no news. Learn to distract yourself—try to avoid staring at your inbox for hours on-end. Write another novel, watch TV (I became a Bravo addict while on subs), go to the gym. In short, force yourself to do anything other than refresh your inbox and stalk twitter feeds! Don’t drive yourself crazy while waiting.
4. Do your research. This isn’t just about researching before you query agents. You should try to keep abreast of what’s happening in the industry: recent sales, what’s hot (and what’s going out of fashion), recent scandals (yes, we have those), and who has drama (especially in the sense that you should learn to avoid such drama). This isn’t to say that you should become a gossip, because no one likes people with big mouths, but keep an eye on what’s happening in the industry. If anything, it gives you things to talk about when you meet other writers.
3. Be kind. And classy. You’d be surprised how far this gets you. In case Rule 4 didn’t convey this, word gets around. Even if you think no one knows who you are, odds are some people have heard of you. Don’t become notorious for starting drama or insulting other authors/agents/editors.
I knew a writer who really damaged their reputation by starting drama—and I was really shocked when I learned that people totally unconnected to that writer had heard of the drama and now thought negatively of said writer. So, be kind—be polite. Authors talk. Not just to each other, but to their agents and editors as well. You might not realize it now, but someday you might be sitting on a panel with the author whose book you slammed on Goodreads, or you might have your work on submission to that editor you whined about in your blog. If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.
2. Open as many doors as you can for others. This goes hand-in-hand with Rule 3. But I remember once explaining this to another writer, who balked at the idea of helping someone get ahead when she was having so much trouble doing it herself. She was afraid that if she helped out a fellow writer (just by reading/critiquing their query letter) that it would hurt her own chances of getting published and being successful. I found (and still find) that to be ridiculous. Someone once told me that lighting other candles doesn’t diminish the brightness of your own flame, and I couldn’t agree more.
Remembering to reach back is crucial—not because you want to gather a horde of people indebted to you, but because it’s a good thing to pay it forward. It’s good for your soul. I wouldn’t be in the position I’m in today if my fellow LTWF Contributor, Mandy Hubbard, hadn’t opened a door for me. Not only am I forever grateful for that kindness, but she inspired me to reach back to others, too. Please don’t become someone who shuts doors on people.
1. Don’t give up. Ever. This might seem pretty obvious, but this is the most important thing I’ve learned so far. The only thing/person standing in your way is YOU. Agents and editors might reject you left and right, but if you give up, the blame is on you. It only takes one person to say yes, and one phone call to change your life.
I know a writer who sent out 96 queries to agents. Her now-agent was number 95 on that list. She could have given up at 50 queries, or 60, or 94. But she kept querying, and the 95th agent was the one who said Yes. If getting published is your dream, then you’ll understand that it’s not how many times you get knocked down—it’s how many times you get back up. Keep getting back up.
**
So? What did you think? She's awesome, and you should go check out her blog. Like, right now! And keep a look out for her novel, QUEEN OF GLASS. A badass retelling of Cinderella. Sounds cool, no?
I just read a hilarious blog by the Intern, in which she talks about the cliches of high school in YA. An excerpt:
"Cherryville High is ruled by a ruthless posse of popular and pretty (but mean and anorexic!) cheerleaders named the Blossom Squad whose leader (more like a sultan! or a supreme court judge!) is a frigid ice queen named Stacey (who gets what's coming to her sometime in the third act when it is revealed that she has Issues!).
The Blossom Squad dates the Football Team (known as the Cherryville Stems!), which is composed of sweaty, muscular teenage boys who like to throw Raging House Parties when their parents are out of town (house parties at which their unfortunate tendencies towards date rape and alcoholism tend to come out) and who occasionally succumb (briefly!) to the romantic charms of a non-Blossom Squad female, dump her by leaving a nasty surprise in her Locker (how did he get into her locker???), then take her back at the last minute (usually in the final moments of Prom).
If you're not in the Blossom Squad or the Stems, you are by default a Pit (i.e. a cherry pit, but also a Misfit! with Misfit Issuuuuuuues!) You have a best friend (who is gay! or of the opposite sex! or nerdy about biochem to the point that she practically qualifies for a guide dog to help her navigate the world outside the science lab! but who ultimately fails to understand you in at least one Key Respect!) If you are a Pit, you might try to lay low, but there will eventually be something (ummmm....supernatural power? illicit romance w/Stem?) that will put you directly in Stacey's (like, the frigging SULTAN of the Blossom Squad's) crosshairs.
Whatever happens, it all gets wrapped up at Prom, which is more important than ANYTHING and at which there is generally some kind of massive showdown between Blossoms, Stems, Pits, and assorted bit characters like Hummer limo drivers and parents."
Wow. Reminds me of so many books I've read, but though I've been to high school, I don't remember it going like this.
The Intern's post inspired me to dismantle the cliches of Highschool in YA fiction (and those ridiculous movies, to be honest). This is all according to my high school experience, which may or may not fit with yours. Just a warning.
Here we go, with a little youtube help along the way:
1) The Queen Bee complex (Also known as the Regina George concept). Does it exist?
Yes and no.
I'm gonna go ahead and safely say that my school did NOT have a Regina George. There was no queen bee, no one who mattered quite that much. But we did have a trio of girls who thought they were queen bees, and in a small school (500 9-12 grade students total), it was hard to avoid them. They were a thorn in many people's sides, and yes, one of them was the head cheerleader.
In short? Regina George is a huge exaggeration of the very real, very annoying girl who shall remain unnamed.
2) Cliques? Do they exist? Is there pressure to stick to the status quo?
This might change with different high schools, but I don't remember any crazy need to JUST be a jock, or a brainiac, or a goth, or a skater. There were jocks in my math class, a goth football player, and people in the choir joined drama club.
There is a little bit of pressure to be "cool," I think. I noticed in the 7th and 8th graders I taught last year that it wasn't cool to like books TOO much. I think this is a growing problem that has to be addressed, and as much as I hate to say it, I think High School Musical helped that ridiculous notion of cliques and being "cool."
3) So Regina George is an myth. What about the misfit?
I may or may not have looked up to Julia Stiles as a role model in high school, but I don't know if anyone can truly be that pissed off all the time. Again, exaggeration.
4) Crazy House Parties!
Sidenote: Wasn't he so CUUUUUTTEEE back then? Shame little Carter grew up.
No really, he's ugly. Go google him.
I'm not exactly the leading expert on house parties, and I'll be the first to say that house parties in high school can be dangerous (and really, there are so many other ways to have fun), but I'm pretty sure they're nothing like the above video, and even less like the ones from Never Been Kissed, Ten Things I Hate About You, and Drive Me Crazy. I'm picturing awkward people trying to get drunk and do stupid things under the guise of alcohol.
5) OMG PROM!
Really, SHE'S ALL THAT? Really?
I had to laugh out loud watching this, because not only is their prom venue a bazillion times cooler than anything my high school could even dream up, they also have a choreographed dance that even the best cheerleaders would have issues learning.
Notice how the main characters steer clear of that dance scene...
Prom is hyped up a lot, with expectations that range from normal (let's have fun and stay up late and dance until our feet hurt!) to crazed (this is the most important night of my life. Ever.) But it's usually nothing like the movies. Drama happens, sure, but not Usher style drama. The most exciting thing that happened at my prom was that the DJ knew the Napoleon dance.
*silence*
Er, moving on...
That's actually all I've got, and the moral of this myth busting challenge seems to be that yeah, YA novels and movies exaggerate. A lot. But there are grains of truth sprinkled throughout the insanity. Popular girls that suck self-esteem like vampires suck blood, cliques that can make people ashamed of their passions in life, misfits that insist on rebelling so much that they sometimes become callous, and the holy grail: The Prom. It can be amazing, it can get ugly, and, I guess it can have life long effects (if you make some really bad choices). But for the most part, it's just a really fun dance.
I understand why High School is made into such cliches sometimes, though. Isn't that what movies and books do? They take the ordinary and make it something fantastical? As long as teenagers don't freak out too much that there's no spontaneous choreographed dancing to make life more musical, I think everyone will be just fine with these hyped up, over-exaggerated situations.
For those of you who didn't go to a good ol' American High School, of for those of you who went a REALLY long time ago, I hope this post de-mystified a lot of what the media is claiming these days. And I hope you enjoyed reading this post as much as I enjoyed looking up the youtube videos for it.
I'm punking out again today, because I feel guilty writing anything that doesn't have to do with a) The question of whether there is one linear gay and lesbian history in the past 30 years or b) The presence of the supernatural in Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre.
That being said, I'm really excited about where this blog is going, and Spilling Ink has been huge in that. Today's post is just going to be my ideas to make this blog a more interesting, fun, helpful place for writers and friends.
Woot!
Ideas:
That interview I did the other day was TOO much fun. I think I'd like to do that with more characters, with a few different surveys. You know, those cheesy ones that keep circulating through myspace. So maybe every Monday will involve a character survey.
Youtube videos. I want to put one at the end of every post, but that's a bit excessive, I think. So, maybe just every other post? Or just once a week?
Writing advice. Sigh. Look to the left. Now back. Sadly, I am not any of the cool bloggers listed. But I'll try my best. Wednesdays. Get ready, because that's tomorrow.
Alright, that's all I got. Maybe this post will be edited once I'm done with my 15-20 pages of writing today/tomorrow.
I'm an amateur musician, pro wine drinker, and lumberjack enthusiast. I have an English degree. Yes, I have a job. I live all over. Kind of like Gandalf. Oh. Did I mention I write books?
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